The Campaign

We set out to transform taxi rides into a convenient experience and in MasterPass, MasterCard’s digital payment check-out product, we found the perfect solution to make a difference. Working hand-in-hand with ComfortDelGro, we integrated MasterPass into their taxi booking app, essentially allowing consumers to pre-arrange their payment ahead of their rides with a single tap instead of having to physically pay when they arrive; making every trip a hassle-free experience. Simply put, MasterPass became the ultimate shortcut to a hassle-free ride.

Creative Execution

We first launched the campaign via banners within the ComfortDelGro taxi booking app. These banners drove the product benefit, education and fee waiver promo code to the multitudes of app users. 4 weeks on, with our early adopters in place, we commenced with our wider multi-channel media launch. We interacted with consumers in a contextually-relevant environment; we appeared in the places where they are considering booking a taxi, digitally geo-targeted them in the very smartphones they used to book, and even reaching them in the taxis themselves. These placements included taxi wraps (each armed with in-taxi materials), radio spots that aired during the taxi peak hours, in-mall advertising near the taxi queues as well as digital channels such as Facebook, Spotify, digital banners and SEM. At the final 2 weeks mark, we ran a one-day joint promotion with DBS to further amplify the campaign and ensured it finished strongly.

It was a resounding success. More than achieving a massive reach of 1.07 million people (that’s 50,000 more than the initial forecast of 1.02 million people who take taxis daily), we also managed to increase registrations by 90% and transaction volume by 173% in a mere 8 weeks when compared against the past 10 months combined. Also, despite Singapore’s small population, our local campaign achieved impressive numbers on MasterCard’s global leaderboard: - ComfortDelGro was and still is the number #1 MasterPass merchant globally - 3rd MasterPass campaign globally in registration volume - 4th MasterPass campaign globally in transaction volume And for DBS, the one-day joint promo increased their transaction volume by 1% month-on-month.

MasterCard identified Singapore’s taxi payment process as an opportunity to increase MasterPass’ market share. To achieve this, we needed to reach an extremely targeted audience relevantly, efficiently and effectively. Therefore, we partnered with ComfortDelGro (Singapore’s largest taxi operator) and DBS (Singapore’s leading consumer bank) to give the campaign a robust ecosystem of touchpoints, granting us instant and direct access to an extensive customer base. This was further bolstered by an efficient and effective media mix, ensuring that the campaign was integrated from both a partnership and media channel perspective. The results were phenomenal.

To assimilate this new payment method into the consumers' daily taxi experience, we needed to guide them through small, 'sticky' steps. We needed to first convert a team of advocates and ComfortDelGro’s booking app was the perfect avenue to kickstart this initiative. This free medium gave us direct access to customers who are already familiar with the app and would be receptive to take an extra step to make their subsequent rides more convenient. With our first line of attack ready, we reached out to the larger audience; only targeting them at points where they are already considering taking a taxi, ensuring media-dollar efficiency. To give the campaign a final push, we collaborated with DBS bank, leveraging their extensive customer base to give the campaign an even greater reach. Finally, we introduced a relevant fee waiver incentive to speed up the adoption rate and encourage repeat usage throughout the campaign.